MANAMA — The Bahrain government on Saturday
denied there were “active” cases of tuberculosis in its prisons after the
Amnesty International rights watchdog accused authorities of failing to check
the spread of the contagious bacterial infection.
اضافة اعلان
The Gulf state’s health ministry said one case in
quarantine for the past two weeks is now in “stable condition” but there are
“no active tuberculosis cases” among prison inmates. The statement was released
two days after Amnesty said Bahrain’s “inadequate response” to an outbreak in
Jaw prison was putting prisoners’ health at serious risk.
It said at least two inmates with symptoms of the
disease that attacks the lungs had been left for more than a week without
tests. A third was sent from hospital back to prison two days after his family
was told he has tuberculosis. A fourth, according to Amnesty, was not moved to
hospital until March when he had been sick for almost a year and was
semi-paralyzed.
“Prisoners’ families have been sounding the alarm
and raising complaints given that no measures have been put in place to protect
other prisoners,” said the rights group.
Bahrain has shown “a disturbing lack of concern for
prisoners’ health,” said Amna Guellali, Amnesty’s deputy director for the
Middle East and North Africa.
The health ministry said, “all necessary
preventative measures have been taken” and that no cross-infections have been
detected. The ministry said inmates get the same treatment “as that provided to
everyone administered through the public health system.”
The World Health Organization says that tuberculosis kills
1.5 million people each year, making it the world’s top infectious killer.
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